Sport, tourism and history: current historiography and future prospects

Abstract

Until comparatively recently historians of tourism have largely paid little attention to sport, despite its historically important role as a major tourist attraction. The essay begins with a brief account of recent scholarship exploring the relationship between sport and tourism, and provides a heavily condensed chronological overview of sports tourism in the past. A more major section analyses the increasing thematic historiographical coverage relating to sports tourism supply which is now beginning to emerge. This has ranged from niche sports tourism, adventure sports, nostalgia and sporting heritage tourism, the role of transport and provision of accommodation and other facilities, such as sporting museums and halls of fame to the study of sporting mega-events such as the Olympics, their marketing, economics and politics, and positive and negative tourist impacts. While details of sport tourism's supply side are beginning to emerge, much less has been written on the sports tourists themselves. This study suggests that the bulk of studies have focused on elite players and teams, and sporting tours have received the bulk of academic attention, alongside some attention given to topics such as demand, spectatorship composition and behaviour at larger events, and that there are still substantial research gaps remaining to be explored.